Virgin Media ceasing old wired BT phone

[Radio Fixer]

When we signed up, with VM, >25 years ago we kept on the old analogue BT phone.  Didnt have mobiles back then.

My wife liked it as she did, and is still doing up to now, the Telephone Banking on it believing it more secure than the Virgin digital phone over fibre. 

Happy for her to handle the current account as she is far more careful about it than me.  Any pressure and I would soon get the chore to do online and I dont need it  .

Anyway, VM went down in the area yesterday and it was a chance to check that the old BT line still gave me diversity which it has in the past.  No! it was down as well.  A chat with VM revealed that they are ceasing all these lines but I dont remember being told?

Anyway, as I am bound to be asked, are the digital and mobile phones secure these days?

thanks Gary

[ppppenguin]

AFAIK, secure against any normal sorts of intrusion. If the spooks want to find out what you're doing it doesn't matter if it's mobile or landline.

[Brunel]

B.T./Openreach  have stated that copper phone lines will be phased out by 2025. They will provide fibre optic running very low speed broadband, for those people that require a 'phone only service.

[Kalee20]

One of the problems with this is, fibre optics can't carry power. So, power for the 'phone instrument has to be provided locally. It's still not the case that every landline user has mains power available at point of use!

[ppppenguin]

I think the 2025 date is more complicated than "everything fibre to home". I just don't think that's feasible on the timescale. I've seen a modern FTTH installation by Openreach. There's a small termination box, mains powered with limited battery backup, which provides DSL and POTS ports. I'm assuming that the bulk of the phone network is actually carrying voice signals as IP packets. It's a matter of where POTS to VOIP conversion is done. For most of us at present it's the exchange. It could be at the street cabinet level or it could be moved to the home. We can alaready do that, by using VOIP capable phones or a router with a POTS port.

I suspect that's what being aimed at in 2025. The POTS dialtone will be switched off and everyone will need a VOIP phone or router with POTS port.

How you get there from here, how you phase the changeover so that older people living alone with just a phoneline don't lose service is guesswork though somebody must be planning it. It may be a bit like DSO for TV, with a special scheme for those people who most need help.

[ppppenguin]

One of the problems with this is, fibre optics can't carry power. So, power for the 'phone instrument has to be provided locally. It's still not the case that every landline user has mains power available at point of use!

A very long time ago, local battery phone systems were common. Then superseded by the central battery system that we all know. So these changes mark a sort of return to the past.

As for mains not being available, there are 2 possibilities. One is that mains isn't conveniently close to the OR demarcation point. That's a simple if potentially annoying problem. There will also be a tiny minority of lines to premises without any mains power. OR may keep a POTS service running for these few cases. Just as they still offer ISDN to a limited number of customers, despite it being obsolete.